[615] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: unkind remarks about K-12
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Sean Donelan)
Tue Apr 23 15:53:14 1991
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1991 14:53:39 CDT
From: SEAN@dranet.dra.com (Sean Donelan)
To: com-priv@psi.com
X-Vmsmail-To: SMTP%"com-priv@psi.com"
> But where is this high initial cost?? Is it the cost of the equipment
>or the cost of the dedicated phone lines?? I have just put a remote building
>on our campus network and the major cost is the phone line. The router cost
>less than $500 and the modems cost about $300. The line cost almost $1000
>to install and a couple hundred a month. With this kind of cost, I can see
>a lot of schools being hesitant to jump into the cold water.
The costs are high for us, because we our product isn't the network link. Our
product is what you can access across the network link. Once the network is
into the school, getting equipment hooked up to it is the interesting
experience, and part of the cost. Why did schools by so many Apple IIs any way?
> But what about
>other technologies?? What about using radio links to provide a starting point
>to get their feet wet at a fraction of the cost. If it proves useful then they
>can always upgrade to hard-wired links later (but I honestly believe they will
>find radio links more than adequete for some time.)
> Is there any reason why non of the commercial providers have started looking
>at radio as a useful media in small geographic areas (like a school district??)
We do use radio links (for things like library bookmobiles). They're a
real pain (and really slow), and currently a solution of last resort.
--
Sean Donelan, Data Research Associates, Inc, St. Louis, MO 63132-1806
Domain: sean@dranet.dra.com, Voice: (Work) +1 314-432-1100
